News from Access Services at Public Record Office Victoria
April 2008 – Number 28

rEsearch is a bi-monthly update on public access news at Public Record Office Victoria (PROV). Current and past editions of rEsearch are available online here and are also emailed to subscribers. Email a request to ask.prov@prov.vic.gov.au if you want to be included on our subscriber list.

1. PROV in Ringwood -- Free Seminar
2. News from Regional Archives
3. VicNames Website Upgraded
4. Hamer Awards Updates
5. Information Awareness Month
6. New PROVcasts now online - featuring Nikki Henningham
7. Public Programs News
8. New PROV publication Footprints to be launched 13 May 2008
9. New Series Available on the PROV Online Catalogue
10. Staff Speaking Engagements
11. Feedback
12. About this publication

1. PROV in Ringwood -- Free Seminar
The Public Records Advisory Council invites you to join them and staff of Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) for a morning of information, ideas and social interaction in Ringwood on Thursday 8 May. The free half day event includes PROV staff presenting sessions on the Places of Deposit program; Indigenous resources; how to access PROV records remotely; and services and products available to the public such as seminars, archival advice, publications and exhibitions. Participants will be treated to morning tea and lunch.

For more information, contact Diane Brodie on (03) 9348 5673 or email <diane.brodie@prov.vic.gov.au>. Bookings are essential – please RSVP by 28 April.

2. News from Regional Archives
BAC closure 14–16 April 2008
The Ballarat Archives Centre (BAC) will be closed for the week beginning Monday 14 April 2008 to repair the failed compactus. The BAC will reopen on Monday 21 April. At this time all BAC records will again be available. Please also note the BAC will be closed to government clients on Wednesday 9 April.

New display at BAC
Many people are interested in researching the history of their own home, or their family property. PROV holds a rich and diverse range of records for researching places and properties including houses, schools, churches, hotels, factories and businesses. A new display Property Research at the Ballarat Archives Centre highlights some of these records and resources. The display can be viewed at BAC until the end of August.

Ballarat Heritage Weekend 10 and 11 May 2008
The City of Ballarat is holding its second Ballarat Heritage Weekend on 10 and 11 May. As part of the weekend PROV will be offering a seminar Family and Local History Research at PROV at the Ballarat Mining Exchange on Saturday 10 May, 10:30 am -12:00 pm. Bookings for the seminar can be made by contacting PROV on 03 9348 5675 or email <ask.prov@prov.vic.gov.au>. Please put the words 'Seminar Booking' in the subject line of your email.

PROV staff will also be on hand to provide advice on researching your family and local history at an information stall at the Mining Exchange from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 May.

Further information on Ballarat Heritage Weekend can be found online at <http://www.ballaratheritageweekend.com>.

3. VicNames Website Upgraded
VICNAMES, the online Register of Geographic Names in Victoria, has been upgraded.
The new website has improved search functions and for the first time historical information about place names can be submitted by public users and naming authorities. This historical information can also be searched and downloaded.
Historical Content Administrators have been appointed to approve, edit or reject historical information submitted by the public.

VICNAMES holds the names of more than 190,000 places and roads, including landscape features such as mountains and rivers, bounded localities such as suburbs, towns, cities and regions, and physical infrastructure such as roads, reserves and schools.

The new capacity for the website to record historical information makes VICNAMES a more user-friendly and useful resource.

A revised user guide has been produced to help people maximise their use of the website, as well as a series of user notes.

The Registrar of Geographic Place Names and Historical Content Administrators will be running a series of roadshows to promote VICNAMES and demonstrate how the system works. Dates and locations are still to be confirmed, but you can register your interest by sending an email to <geo.names@dse.vic.gov.au> or visit their website <http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/index.jsp>.

4. Hamer Awards Update
Nominations for the Sir Rupert Hamer Records Management Awards, recognising excellence and innovation in records management in the Victorian public sector, closed on 20 March.

While in the past the awards have only been available to government agencies, this year award categories for Places of Deposit (PODs) have been included in recognition of the work they do to preserve the local history of their communities. In these new categories, 25 nominations were received from 16 organisations.

Winners in all categories will be announced at the award presentation ceremony on 15 May 2008 at Queens Hall, Parliament House, Melbourne.

Please contact Manager, Public Programs, James McKinnon for further information by phone (03) 9348 5600 or email <james.mckinnon@prov.vic.gov.au>.

5. Information Awareness Month
The purpose of Information Awareness Month (IAM) is to increase public awareness of the breadth of the information industry through a series of events all through the month of May. Showing the importance of properly maintaining good records and information as it relates to everyone from global corporations through to small business and even the homemaker – to 'connect information and people'.

IAM is a collaborative event between various bodies within the records, archives, library and information management community, and this commonality of purpose reflects the fact that these various professional bodies are some of the most widely respected in the information management community within Australasia and throughout the world. It is hoped that over time other industry associations globally will embrace Information Awareness Month.

For information on all IAM activities see <http://www.informationawarenessmonth.com.au>.

6. New PROVcasts now online -- featuring Nikki Henningham
Download or stream the latest PROV podcasts, featuring researcher and writer Dr Nikki Henningham, Executive Director of the Australian Women's Archive Project, discussing the development of the She's Game website about Australian sporting women, and how to identify and access records about women at PROV and other collections.

The full range of PROV audio and video podcasts are listed on the PROVcasts webpage <http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/provcasts/>.

7. Public Programs News
The 1891 Women's Suffrage Petition & the 100th Anniversary of Women's Vote in Victoria
The latest PROV exhibition Centenary of Women's Suffrage: Signature Stories will be on display at the Victorian Archives Centre gallery in North Melbourne until 14 June 2008. The exhibition tells the stories of signatories to the 1891 Monster Petition <http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/exhibs/treasures/treasures.asp> that galvanised the suffrage movement in Australia and New Zealand. The Office of Women's Policy wants to hear about your ancestors who signed the 1891 Women's Suffrage petition – email them <vicwomenvote@dpcd.vic.gov.au> with your stories. Visit the exhibition and sign the new petition to commemorate the anniversary!

There will also be walking tours/talks for the public and schools tracing the suffrage movement in the Hotham Hill district of North Melbourne to commemorate this significant year. Suffragists of Hotham Hill, North Melbourne, developed in partnership with Hotham Hill History Project and PROV, will take participants on a journey through the experiences and residential locations of the women who dared to sign the petition. Cost: $10.00, payable at Victorian Archives Centre reception or on the day of the walk.

Remaining tour dates:
Saturday 12 April 2008, 2.00 to 3.30 pm
Saturday 3 May 2008, 1.30 to 3.00 pm

For further information please contact (03) 9348 5600 or email <ask.prov@prov.vic.gov.au>. For information about the Centenary of Suffrage in Victoria celebrations, visit <http://www.women.vic.gov.au/womenvote>.

Moomba – What's in a name?
This exhibition at City Gallery at Melbourne Town Hall until 14 June 2008, explores how Moomba came to be called Moomba and the way in which controversy about what the word really means has kept the wheels of urban mythology turning for decades.

A follow-up exhibition entitled An Aboriginal Moomba: 'Out of the Dark': The 1951 Play Re-Visited will be on display at the City Gallery from June to September 2008. This unique theatrical event, which helped rekindle cultural pride within Aboriginal communities, has been captured in photographs now held by PROV (VPRS 7655/P1 Stationery and Photographs of State Occasions, 1936-1958, unit 1). The theatrical event also set the scene for Melbourne's Moomba festival.

Currach Folk: Photographs by Bill Doyle
Coming to the Victorian Archives Centre in early July through to October 2008, this exhibition presents a selection of Bill Doyle's mid-1960s photographs of Gaelic fishing and farming folk living off Ireland's isolated west coast, capturing a lost world celebrated by Joyce, Yeats and Synge. The photographs will be augmented by a selection of records and stories about the Irish in Australia garnered from the PROV archives.

8. New PROV publication Footprints to be launched 13 May 2008
Footprints tells the story of Lucy and Percy Pepper, an Aboriginal family from Gippsland in south-eastern Victoria. The publication details the struggles the Pepper family faced dealing with the Board for the Protection of Aborigines, presenting a twenty-year journey that unfolds through transcripts of government documents held in the collections of PROV and NAA. The book demonstrates the wealth of information about Aboriginal people contained in the records held in both of these government archives.

Footprints will be launched by Minister for the Arts Lynne Kosky and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Richard Wynne on 13 May 2008 and will be available for purchase from the Victorian Archives Centre ($10 per copy). For further updates refer to the KRU webpage <http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/about/kru/>.

9. New Series available on the PROV Online Catalogue
Visit <http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/main/newrecords.asp> to view new series that have been made available online at 'Access the Collection'. The list is updated every two months to coincide with the publication of rEsearch.

10. Staff Speaking Engagements
Visit our events calendar at <http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/events/calendar/default.asp> for a list of upcoming PROV speaking engagements. Book now!

11. Feedback
If you would like to send feedback and suggestions on the content of this newsletter or if you know someone who would be interested in receiving rEsearch, please email <ask.prov@prov.vic.gov.au>

12. About this Publication
We have included you on our mailing list because you have indicated interest in receiving PROV information. However, if you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please email <ask.prov@prov.vic.gov.au> or phone PROV Reception (03) 9348 5600 and we will remove you from our list.

You can access the web page version of this newsletter at <http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/publications>. Back issues are also available on the website.

ISSN 1449-0331 Copyright © 2008 Public Record Office Victoria

Back to top